The Atlantic

<em>Star Trek: Discovery</em> Boldly Goes Into the Age of Streaming TV

The franchise’s first new series in 12 years is a radical departure, with an emphasis on heavy serialization and heated conflict.
Source: CBS

This story contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery.

For more than 50 years, Star Trek has obeyed a particular formula when introducing its new shows. The first episode is double-sized, a mini-movie designed to introduce a new vessel (be it Enterprise, Deep Space Nine, or Voyager) and its crew. Our hero is the commanding officer, a steady hand atop a pyramid of Starfleet command (Captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer). And if there’s conflict, it’s mostly external, as the Star Trekcreator that Starfleet officers don’t get in fights with each other, though that’s a rule that was made to be broken.

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